


Someone to Lean On

by Ebb_tide



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bromance, Cuddles from Liam, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sick Niall, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 17:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5136407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ebb_tide/pseuds/Ebb_tide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall gets sick and Liam takes care of him. I think the friendship between Niall and Liam is so cute and adorable, so I had to write this story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Someone to Lean On

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever sickfic. I hope you like it and please be kind :D

Niall stuffed another marshmallow in his mouth. He somehow managed to fit it in even though there were already seven in there.

Niall winced as he shifted his jaw to mumble a muffled “One Direction.”

Liam lifted Niall’s arm in triumph and cheered. “That counts! I heard it!”

Harry laughed. “Looks like Team Niam wins over Team Larry.”

Niall washed his mouth full of marshmallows down with a beer. “Never thought I could fit more in my mouth than Louis.”

Harry laughed. “Yeah, Lou’s a bit of a big mouth.”

Louis picked a piece of marshmallow from his teeth. “I don’t think that’s where he was going with that Haz.”

Niall took another swig of beer. “Who’s up for another round?”

Liam reached across the cramped tour bus kitchen and pulled a few more beers from the ice chest. “Cheers mate. Let’s celebrate like winners!”

Harry took one of the beers and popped off the top. “Turning this tour bus into Funky Buddha, Payno?”

Liam cranked up the volume of his phone and party music filled the bus.

The boys kept the party going for hours until they all ran out of alcohol and energy.

*******

Niall moaned as he heard Liam’s voice. He couldn’t make out the words, but he was sure that even hungover-Liam was still responsible-Liam. The words he couldn’t understand were probably a lecture of some kind.

Niall really wasn’t in the mood, especially considering that Liam had supplied the beer, so he nuzzled deeper into his pillow. It only took a second for him to realize that his pillow was less of a pillow and more a pair of sweatpants. It also was becoming clearer to him that these sweatpants were currently being worn by Liam.

Niall turned his head and looked up to see Liam smiling from above him. As comfortable as it was to lay on Liam’s lap, it was becoming less and less comfortable, and more awkward.

Niall pushed himself up, but a semi-upright position brought on a familiar pounding in his head. Niall groaned as the party favor from last night continued to drum against his skull.

Niall rested his head on Liam’s shoulder and mumbled. “M’head hurts.”

Niall felt Liam’s shoulder shake as he laughed. “You know what they say mate. Never mix marshmallows with beer.”

Niall moaned. “No one’s ever said that ever.” He repositioned his head on Liam’s shoulder. “My head is killing me. Stop moving your shoulder. Your lap was more comfy.”

Harry walked past naked. “Have you guys seen my hat?”

Niall smushed his head against Liam’s shoulder away from naked Harry.

Liam laughed. “You’re missing more than your hat mate.”

Harry smiled his famous dimpled smile. “It’s freestyle Friday.”

Louis tossed Harry a pair of boxers. “It’s Tuesday Haz.”

Harry frowned as he stepped into the boxers. “That means we have that radio interview with Nick to do.”

Louis groaned. “Nick Grimshaw? God I hate that troll.”

Niall winced at Louis’ high pitched voice. “Shh Lou. I’m dying over here.”

Liam rubbed Niall’s back. “You ok Nialler? You can usually handle a few beers with no problem.”

Niall blushed at Liam’s comment. The last thing Niall wanted was for Liam to feel disappointed in him. Liam’s approval was something that meant more to Niall than anything in the world.

Niall shook his head against Liam’s shoulder. “M’fine Li. Like you said. It must’a been the marshmallows that put me over the edge.”

Liam smiled, but still looked concerned. He wanted to press the issue further, but the screech of the brakes signaled that tour bus had arrived.

The sudden stop of the vehicle caused Louis to stumble forward, but Harry actually fell from the forward momentum. There was muffled sounds of cursing, but it wasn’t coming from Harry, it was coming from outside. Liam took a break from being Niall’s pillow to peek outside.

Standing inches from the bus was Nick Grimshaw. There was a spilled cup of coffee on the ground, but Nick was yelling about more than just a spilled Latte. He was waving his arms as he screamed. “I could have been killed. I seriously could have been run over in my own parking lot.”

Louis leaned over Liam’s shoulder to laugh at Nick. “I don’t think you actually own the parking lot. You may be the Queen of the radio station, but that doesn’t mean you actually rule over anything.”

Nick’s glare darted over to Louis. “Well this is lovely. First I almost get killed by a tour bus. I see my life flash before my eyes and the first thing I see is Louis Tomlinson, the whiney little troll.”

Liam raised an eyebrow. “Troll?”

Louis bit his lip. “Lots of people say troll. Don’t make a big deal about it.”

Niall held his head, sitting in the kitchenette that Liam had left him at. Niall tried to mask the pain in his voice, but the headache was crashing against his skull. “What’s everyone talking about?”

Nick climbed on the bus. “We’re talking about how I almost became one with the pavement. To think, I could have died in this cheap suit. I can’t die in anything less than Armani.”

Nick reached into the mini-fridge and took out a Coke. He was joking around, but Liam didn’t miss how his hand was shaking.

The bus driver came over to Nick and started to apologize.

Nick’s attention was briefly occupied with the driver, so Liam took this opportunity to glace over at Niall. Niall was laying on the table with his head buried in his arms.

Liam put a hand on Niall’s head. Niall moaned at the pain that even a light touch caused, and turned his head to look up at Liam.

Liam knelt down so he could be at eye level with poor Niall. Niall’s eyes followed Liam as he knelt down. Niall winced as even focusing on Liam was painful. He blinked slowly. “I think this is more than a hangover Li.”

Liam nodded. “You want us to reschedule the interview?”

Niall felt the unsettling feeling of disappointing Liam. He smirked despite the pain. “I’m not going to cancel an interview over a headache. Do I look like Louis to you?”

Liam scrunched his brow with worry. “You look like hell. I’m telling Nick we’ll do it another time.”

Niall took Liam’s wrist. His voice was wavering. “I can do it. You did shows when your kidney was about to explode. I can do this.”

Liam shook his head. “That was - .”

Nick slammed his Coke can on the table. Liam knew that didn’t do anything good for Niall’s head.

Nick sighed. “Do you Lads want to do this in the bus? It might be easier that way.”

Harry smiled. “Does that mean I can take off these boxers?”

Louis shook his head. “Nope. Doesn’t mean that at all.”

Harry frowned. “It’s not like Nick hasn’t seen me naked before.”

Nick held up his hand as he spoke into his blue tooth. “Yes Darling. Could you bring the mic packs to the tour bus? The boys and I are going to chat from here.”

Niall bit his lip as his leg started to shake.

Liam was about to question Niall, but Louis beat him to it. Louis titled his head to the side in equal parts confusion and concern. “You alright, buddy?”

Niall grunted. “Fine. Just need to use the toilet.”

Niall pushed himself to his feet and took a moment to get his balance.

Louis took a step forward to offer assistance. “Do you - ?”

Niall shooed him away. “I’m fine.”

Niall dragged his feet as he stumbled to the bathroom.

Louis looked at Liam.

Liam shrugged. “He’s just needs to go to the toilet.”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “To die?”

Liam punched Louis’ arm. “Don’t be a wanker.”

Louis rubbed his sore arm as Liam continued. “Niall’s stubborn. He won’t admit he’s feeling like rubbish right now. If I cancel the interview he’s going to think I pity him and I don’t want that. You and I are just going to have to keep an eye on him.”

Louis nodded. “I can do that.”

While Liam and Louis were talking, Niall was leaning against the bathroom mirror. The cold glass against his forehead made his head feel just a tad better, but the pain was still climbing at an almost unbearable level.

Niall kept his eyes closed as the throbbing caused his body to start shivering. He clenched his teeth as he moaned. “Liam…”

He leaned away from the mirror as he hunched over the sink. He gripped the sink trying not to fall over. He called out his best mate’s name again, but he knew it wasn’t loud enough for Liam to hear.

He took a shaky hand to grab for his phone. It shook in his hand as he scrolled through his text messages. He opened up Liam’s name and his finger hovered over the keyboard. He paused as pride tried to convince him not to send the message.

Liam laughed as he put on Harry’s hat. Harry grinned. “You look smashing Li. Like a proper gent.”

Liam put the hat on Louis. Louis smiled. “How do I look?”

Harry bit his lip. “Um, the hat it’s...it’s not too um, big on you. It’s the right size.”

Louis tossed the hat at Harry as Harry and Liam tried not to laugh too hard.

Louis pouted. “Screw you both. I don’t need hats. I have amazing hair.”

Harry ran his hands through Louis’ hair. “You do have fabulous hair.”

Louis shook his head. “Don’t suck up now. It’s too late.”

Harry glanced over toward the bathroom. “Is Niall ok? He’s been in there for a while.”

Liam nodded. “He’s fine.”

A loud thud came from the other side of the door.

Liam was the furthest from the bathroom, but he jumped up and ran with enough speed to reach the door before the others. He pushed against the door and although it wasn’t locked, there was still too much weight against it to open.

Liam pressed against the door, trying to keep his voice calm and even. “Niall, mate. Can you hear me?”

Niall mumbled. “Aye.”

Liam breathed out. “Good, good. I need you to move away from the door. I can’t open it when you’re against it. Can you do that for me?”

Niall started crying. “My head hurts, Li. It hurts really bad. I tried to do the interview, but it… I can’t.”

Liam shook his head even though Niall couldn’t see it. “There’s nothing wrong about not feeling well. You did your best. That’s all we can ask of you.”

Niall’s voice was almost too soft to hear. “I didn’t let you down?”

Liam knelt down to be at eyelevel with Niall just like before even though he couldn’t see him through the door. “You could never let me down. I just need you to slide over a tad so I can open the door.”

Niall used the renewed strength that Liam’s words gave him to scoot slightly away from the door.

Liam heard the sound of movement from the other side of the door and stood up. He wasn’t sure how far Niall was able to move so he pushed gently against the door. He opened it just wide enough to squeeze through.

Niall was curled in on himself and holding his head. Liam joined Niall on the floor and put his hand on Niall’s shoulder. He tried to keep his voice as calm as before, but seeing Niall’s current condition, he was losing the battle quickly. “Are you – can you – is it - ?”

Liam took a deep breath and started again. “Did you hit you head? Are you bleeding?”

Niall looked at Liam with one squinted blue eye and the other eye shut in pain. “My head feels like it’s about to explode.”

Liam nodded. He hadn’t actually answered the question, but Liam was pretty confident that Niall was stable enough to move.

Liam positioned himself to lift Niall off of the floor. The cramped bathroom was too small to scoop Niall up easily, so Liam tried to lift Niall with the least amount of awkwardness.

He sat on his knees as close as he could to Niall and held out his arms. “Just put your arms around my neck and I’ll try to lift you.”

Niall didn’t think twice about wrapping his arms around Liam. It was what he wanted to do ever since he started to feel sick. He always felt safe and protected in Liam’s arms.

Niall’s head rested on Liam’s shoulder and Liam tensed at how warm Niall’s face felt against his cheek. The heat radiating from his skin and the dark red tint to his face made Liam worry that his best mate was running a fever.

Liam mentally kicked himself for not stepping in earlier, but the guilt was going to have to wait. Right now Niall needed him and all of his attention should be focused Niall’s way.

Liam grunted as he lifted Niall.

Niall mumbled against Liam’s shoulder. “M’sorry.”

Liam smiled. “No worries. I always wanted to be a fireman. I guess this counts as recuing someone.”

Liam felt Niall smile against his shoulder.

Liam pushed the bathroom door all way open with the side of his foot. He was greeted with three pairs of wide eyes staring back at him.

Liam chose to address the most responsible of the three first. “Nick, can you get me a beer from the fridge. We can use that as an icepack for Niall’s head.”

Nick nodded and went to retrieve the therapeutic beer.

Liam looked at Louis. “Lou, I need you to get some blankets incase Niall goes into shock.”

Liam glanced over at Harry. “I need you to clear off the bed in the back of the bus. Niall’s too sick to be in his bunk.”

Harry nodded and headed to the back of the bus. Liam slowly followed, carrying Niall. The bouncing movement from walking caused Niall to whimper softly, but Liam just held him tighter.

When they reached the bed, Harry had cleared off all the junk that was on it and Liam slowly lowered Niall onto the soft mattress.

Liam took a step back, but Niall reached out and grabbed Liam’s shirt sleeve. “Li…”

Liam smiled. “I’m not going anywhere mate. I was just going around the other side of the bed so I can squeeze in here with you.”

Niall let go of Liam’s sleeve, but followed him with his eyes to make sure Liam didn’t go too far.

Liam scooted into the other side of the bed and put his palm over Niall’s forehead. “Have you ever had a migraine before?”

Niall moaned. “Is that what this is?”

Liam nodded. “Think so. Sadly, if it is, medicine’s not going to help much. You’re going to have to just ride it out.”

Liam pointed across the room. “Haz, can you get the first aid kit from over there? I want to see if Niall’s running a fever. Sometimes that happens with migraines.”

Harry picked up the kit and sat down on the end of the bed. The movement caused Niall to wince, but he didn’t complain about it. Having his brothers take care of him was worth a little discomfort.

Harry opened the first aid kit and held up the thermometer. “Ok Nialler, roll over and pull your pants down. I need to take your temperature.”

Niall moaned.

Harry laughed. “I’m just kidding. I think this goes in your ear or something.”

Harry put the thermometer in Niall’s ear and it let out a successful beep.

Liam rubbed Niall’s arm as Harry concentrated way too hard on the simple task of taking Niall’s temperature.

Niall’s gaze shifted back to Liam. “It hurts Li.”

Liam nodded. “I know. My dad used to get really bad migraines when I was younger and I would take care of him. You’re lucky that you have me taking care of you. I know exactly what to do.”

Niall smiled. “You always do.”

Louis’ voice travelled into the room. “Niall must be delirious from the pain. He forgot that 99% of the time Liam doesn’t know what’s going on.”

Nick smirked. “Maybe this is that 1% of the time that he does.” Nick held up the beer. “Louis and I got the cold beer you requested.”

Liam frowned. “First of all, I changed that twitter handle. Second of all, you might want to worry more about why it took so long for two people to get one beer?”

Harry laughed. “Oh snap, son.”

The thermometer beeped, silencing everyone. Harry handed Liam the thermometer and Liam looked at the digital numbers carefully. He sighed in relief. “It’s a little high, but nothing to go to the hospital over.”

Harry gave Niall’s hand a squeeze. “That’s good news.” Harry turned his attention to Louis and Nick. “Let’s let head out and give Niall a little privacy. I think Liam has this covered.”

The three left the tour bus so Niall could have some peace and quiet.

Liam pressed the cold beer bottle against Niall’s forehead and Niall mumbled. “This is terrible. Not only do I feel like I was literally run-over by a bus, but now I’m wasting a perfectly good bottle of beer.”

Liam shrugged. “It’s all good. I’ll probably drink it warm later.”

Niall hummed as he scooted closer to Liam. “You’ve been solving all my problems today.”

Liam used the hand that he wasn’t holding the cooling beer to Niall’s forehead to massage Niall’s temple. For the first time in hours, Niall felt the throbbing pain start to ease down to a dull ache.

Niall closed his eyes, feeling relaxed enough to attempt sleeping. He whimpered for a while before giving in and letting the rhythmic motions of sleep take over. When Liam was certain his suffering friend was asleep, he carefully slipped out of the bed so Niall had enough room to fully stretch out when he would eventually start to toss and turn in his sleep.

Liam gently pulled the covers up so Niall was blanketed in warmth from his neck down. He removed the beer bottle from Niall’s forehead and placed a warm kiss on Niall’s cold forehead.

He sat cross legged on the floor leaning against the bed and took a swig of the lukewarm beer. He laughed to himself. “This tastes terrible.”

He sat on the floor for a while, but when he realized Niall was more than happy clutching his blankets, only occupying half the bed, he decided to join him.

He slipped under the covers and kept watch over Niall until the temptation of sleep was too much to resist.

A few hours later Niall rolled over and opened his eyes. He rubbed his forehead and smiled. The blazing headache was replaced with just the sore feeling that lingers after a really bad migraine.

Niall turned to face Liam, but his caretaker was still fast asleep. He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He smiled as he saw six messages from Harry.

He opened the messages.

_How r u?_

_Niall r u there?_

_I’m calling Liam. Guess you’re asleep._

_Li didn’t answer so I guess he’s sleeping 2. Me, Nick, and Louis went to lunch and we’re going to a club. We won't come back_ _till we hear from u._

_I’m in the toilet. I didn’t ditch you Babe._

_Ignore that last txt._

Liam yawned. “Ni? You awake?”

Niall put his phone back in his pocket and curled up next to Liam. “No.”

Liam laughed. “How’s your head?”

Niall snuggled closer to Liam. He didn’t want to tell him he was all better and risk Liam leaving, but he couldn’t lie after Liam took such good care of him. “I’m better.”

Liam put a hand on Niall’s forehead to see if the fever went down. “It feels like your fever’s gone, but I better stay here and watch videos on my phone in case you go downhill. You know, just in case.”

Niall smiled as Liam loaded up a video onto his phone. “Yup. Just in case.”

 


End file.
